New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday paid a left-handed compliment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over US President Barack Obama's praise for him as he compared him with Mikhail Gorbachev, whose tenure saw disintegration of Soviet Union.

Obama has written a "very long" piece in praise of Modi, Gandhi said in Lok Sabha while referring to a brief profile written by the US President in Time magazine which put the Indian leader among the 100 most influential people in the world.Read more: Rahul accuses Centre of giving away internet space to corporates; Govt vehemently denies charges"For the first time a US President has spoken so highly of an Indian Prime Minister. This has happened for the first time in the last 60 years. Obama is not a small man. He is the US President. Earlier, such praise was showered only on Gorbachev, because he had helped the US," the Congress Vice President said.